Childhood obesity is considered as a serious health problem worldwide. The aim of this review is to evaluate the prevalence and the trends of obesity among Saudi children. A full search was conducted for all articles published between 2000 and 2012 on obesity in Saudi children. The latest national data revealed that the rates of overweight and obesity among school-age children have reached 23% and 9.3%, respectively. However, the rates of overweight and obesity among preschool children were reported as approximately 15% and 6%, respectively. A variation in the prevalence of obesity and overweight in children among geographical regions of the Kingdom was noted. Eastern and central regions have the highest prevalence of obesity and overweight and southern regions have the lowest prevalence of obesity and overweight. Both regional and national studies showed a trend of rising obesity over time. This review demonstrated that Saudi children have a high prevalence of obesity and being overweight with a rising trend. In light of these findings, it is evident that a national strategy is required to treat and prevent this serious health problem.

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Context: Saudi Arabians suffer from overweight and obesity, which contribute significantly to the poor control of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN). Aim: To assess the effect of overweight and obesity on diabetes and HTN control in Aseer region, KSA. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted by the end of the year 2010. All medical records were assessed by trained doctors and nurses working in the Chronic Disease Clinic at each primary health care center (PHCC) using a check list derived from the quality assurance manual of PHC. The Chronic Disease Services were based on the recommendation of the relevant guidelines. Data entry and analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. P-values less than 0.05 were selected for statistical significance. Results: The prevalence of obesity among diabetics and hypertensive patients was 46% and 54%, respectively. The diabetic patients with good control comprised 21% of the study population, while less than one-third of the patients had fair diabetic control and about half of the diabetics had poor diabetic control. About more than one-third of patients had good control of HTN and less than one-third suffered from overweight and more than half had obesity. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that most of DM and HTN patients in PHCCs, Aseer Region, KSA, suffered from overweight and obesity, which contribute significantly to the poor control of DM and HTN.

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Overweight and obesity affect more than 75% of the total population in Saudi Arabia. Almost all age groups are affected in general and adults particularly. In order to introduce high quality health-care for these individual, it is mandatory to establish clinical guideline that will help health-care providers to manage this common problems at all levels. This guideline was adapted from Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network for management of obesity after taking permission in this regard. The guideline will cover preventive and curative aspects of overweight and obesity and could be implemented at primary, secondary, and tertiary care levels in Saudi Arabia.

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Obesity is a common health problem in Saudi Arabia. Family physicians (FPs) have vital role in the prevention and treatment of obesity. This article aims to provide physicians at family practice with a practical approach which could help obese patients to reduce their weight. Ahmed is a 29-year-old Saudi male who came to family medicine clinic seeking advice regarding gaining weight. How FP should deal with this patient?

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